As many of you know, I saved up all my hard-earned money (and borrowed some of my mom’s hard-earned money) and bought a Prius on my birthday. I love my car and I’ve enjoyed 29 days of fuel-efficient bliss with it.

Today, on my way to work, one of the shittiest things ever happened… I was rear-ended!

I’ve always thought that the light on Colfax and Tremont was an accident magnet because I constantly see people running the red or slamming on their breaks when they realize they’re about to run the red. Because of these observations, I’m always extra careful when crossing that way.

I saw that the light before the deadly intersection was yellow, so I slowed down to stop at the red. Apparently, the woman behind me didn’t see the light at all and slammed right into my poor little car at full speed!

The impact was so hard that my glasses went flying off my face and into the dashboard, my bag, which had been on the seat beside me, went catapulting forward and my iPod went crashing into the console.

I was totally shocked and put the car in park so I could get out and see the damages. When I stood up and got out of my seat, my head felt heavy, like when you have a really bad head ache, and I realized how hard I’d been hit. The muscles on the left side of my neck were starting to lock up as the whole situation started becoming clearer.

I walked back to my seat and sat down as I started sobbing uncontrollably.

When I called 911, I was shaking and sobbing so hard I could barely talk. They kept asking if I wanted an ambulance, but I didn’t think I needed one as I wasn’t bleeding and had managed to stand up and walk out of the car.

An officer finally arrived about 20-30 minutes later and informed me that the woman who hit me had an expired insurance policy and a Mexico driver’s license.

Uninsured.

Not a citizen of this country.

This means my insurance has to pay to fix my car and I get stuck paying the deductible! My agent informed me that, because the woman who hit me had no insurance and wasn’t a citizen, any hope of recovering the funds from her was highly unlikely.

I did manage to go to work, which took my mind off things until my head and neck started hurting pretty bad and had to call it quits to take more Advil and lie down.

Now I’m concerned that my neck and head will feel like shit in the morning and that there might be more wrong with me than I’d originally assumed. That, and the pain in the ass it will be to try to take my car to the shop and wait for it to get fixed. Oh, and of course, knowing that I’ll be paying for all this.

Naturally all this had to happen the week before the DNC — only the busiest time since I started at my job!

I still don’t really know how I’m going to manage the financial impact of this accident… but, hey, at least I’m not severely injured.